Review: When She Was Gone by Gwendolen Gross

Publish Date: March 19th, 2013
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Mystery Purchase*:Barnes and Noble/ AmazonAdd on GoodreadsSource: Received from author for a review.Rating: 3.0

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Linsey Hart disappears the day before she’s due to leave for college. As her neighbors piece together what they saw and what they think they know about the missing girl, their long-held secrets, prejudices, and entanglements become rudely evident.

There’s Linsey’s mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social outcast status painfully obvious; stay-at-home mom Reeva, whose primary concern is covering up the affair she’s been having with the Starbucks barista; Mr. Leonard, a reclusive retired piano teacher—and the last person to see Linsey alive; George, an eleven year-old gifted loner who is determined to find out what happened to Linsey; and Timmy, Linsey’s ex-boyfriend, who is left grieving as he embarks on his own college career.

A keenly observed portrait of a small town under duress, When She Was Gone is a searing portrayal of the bonds that hold a community together—and the secrets and lies that threaten to rip it apart.

My Review:

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this book. I got it from the author for my honest opinion. In a way I expected this book to be like The Lovely Bones, but let me tell you When She Was Gone was just the opposite of The Lovely Bones. When She Was Gone is a story about a seventeen year old girl Linsey, who one morning just disappeared without saying a world, She Was Gone. I liked how the story was written. The story was told from different points of view and never from Linsey's. The whole book was divided to five days starting the day Linsey disappeared, and the last part of the book jumped from day five to day ten. Each chapter focused on one of neighbors living near Linsey. There was a story about an old pianist Mr, Leonard, who was the last one to see Linsey. His story was a story of a lonely man with only music in his heart. His story really stood up to me. Another story that I liked was George's, who is eleven years old. He is a loner and everybody thinks he's a weird kid, and that something is wrong with him. He has a different hobbies that most kids don't understand. When you read through his point of view, when you observe things the way he does, you'll see that he is not weird, in fact he's just different and very talented kid that doesn't quit know how to communicate to kids his age.

I liked reading each story of a neighbor, finding out their secrets and hopes. Then why three stars? Well for me this story was way to slow. I felt like some characters keep repeating things, and It just got boring at times. Also I felt like the book was not really about Linsey, it was more about her neighbors. At some points I didn't quit understand how some of the characters related to the story. I don't know, maybe it was just me who felt this way.